


Music Meme: Set Five

by i_claudia



Series: Music Meme [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-06-23
Updated: 2009-06-23
Packaged: 2017-11-18 11:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_claudia/pseuds/i_claudia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of five drabbles in the Merlin universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Music Meme: Set Five

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LJ [here](http://i-claudia.livejournal.com/27106.html#cutid1). (23 June 2009)

**1\. New Friend Request (Gym Class Heroes)**

_So click approve, so simple_  
Show me some kind of sign and let me know it's time to make my move   
Just click approve, come on girl   
Baby I'm one of a kind and I ain't got time to lose 

Merlin’s been distant since the incident with the Questing Beast, unnaturally quiet – not exactly servile; Merlin is never servile – but quiet. Arthur hadn’t realized how much Merlin’s chatter had become part of his life until it stopped. He tries to pick up the threads of his old friendships, but he finds them stale, unsatisfying; slowly, painfully, he realizes they were never really his friends at all.

He wonders how long it will take for Merlin to start talking again, wonders if he’ll go mad from the silence before that happens.

*

**2\. Mmmbop (Hanson)**

_You have so many relationships in this life_  
Only one or two will last   
You're go through all the pain and strife   
Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast 

Gwen watches as Lancelot rides away from Camelot, a little rueful, perhaps, a bit wistful for something she doesn’t want to put into words, afraid mere language will spoil it. Merlin has tried to comfort her, in his endearing way; he’s a fine friend, attractive in his own right, but Lancelot felt grounded in the earth, a solid boulder to rest on in the stormy air of Camelot. His armour shines in the sunlight, making her blink as he trots around a bend and disappears from sight, and she sends up a wish to whoever might be listening that he really will return.

*

**3\. Bright Side of the Road (Van Morrison)**

_From the dark end of the street_  
To the bright side of the road  
We'll be lovers once again  
On the bright side of the road 

The morning air is fresh, bright with dew and birdsong, and Lancelot smiles as he kneels down to splash his face in the river. It’s been a month since leaving Camelot, and already he feels his mind clearing, his emotions leveling out. He’ll return someday, perhaps after Uther passes and the law permits him to fill the role he has always known he was meant for. Arthur is destined for great things, he is certain of it, and he harbours the deep, secret hope that he might help that greatness, protect and shield it in all its shining splendour. If he can play one small part in that destiny, he will be content.

His thoughts stray as he stands up and shakes the water from his hair, and though he feels slightly less chivalrous at their direction he cannot help them. He will not deny to himself that Gwen looms large in his head still, her laughter ringing in his ears and her soft ringlets blowing gently across her face.

*

**4\. George (Four Shadow)**

_This here’s a tale for all of you people_  
Sick of Titanic blockbuster Dr Evils  
It’s a throwback to a time  
Of milk and cookies and stories before bedtime  
Before Sega Genesis is where it’s at  
There was a primate and a man with a yellow hat 

Morgana smoothes the boy’s hair back gently, hiding her concern behind a smile. He is too warm, his lips cracking with the heat, and there is nothing she can do to save him except hope that Merlin returns soon.

He looks up at her, fever making his eyes over-bright and his forehead glisten.

“Tell me a story,” he asks, and she nods, unable to deny him.

She settles down next to him, curling one arm around his shoulders; he leans into her, closing his eyes. “Once,” she begins, “long ago in a far away land, there lived a kind young man who dressed all in yellow...”

*

**5\. One Last Breath (Creed)**

_It seems I found the road to nowhere_  
And I’m trying to escape  
I yelled back when I heard thunder  
But I’m down to one last breath 

Merlin is tired; tired of heartsickness, of losing his friends one by one to madness and to death. He tries not to think of Arthur, pale and serene, grave in death as he never was in life, laid out in state beneath the green canopy of the forest battlefield. It’s difficult to do when he’s walking over the very field, although the awful copper smell of blood has long since faded. He lays one hand on the tree he knelt beneath as his king, his golden prince, struggled horribly for breath until no breath would come.

It is time, he thinks, to sleep until the king returns. Pushing forward with his hand, he steps into the warm darkness of heartwood, letting sleep cradle him deep.


End file.
